Warning: Spoilers for Manifest season 4, part 1
Manifest season 4, part 1 avoided disproving the darkest theory regarding Cal and Grace’s death. The circumstances of Grace’s murder and the convenient timing of Cal’s arrival on the scene have prompted a great deal of skepticism regarding the true intentions of the Callings. In fact, it’s been suggested that what happened to Grace wasn’t just a senseless act of murder or the consequence of several costly mistakes by the characters.
A popular theory stemming from the events of the Manifest season 3 finale was that the Callings wanted Grace dead. The biggest piece of evidence for this was Cal’s unjustified defense of Angelina and the role he unwittingly played in her murder. It shouldn’t be forgotten that it was because of the Callings that Cal (and the other passengers) thought they were supposed to help Angelina, but doing so is what ultimately laid the groundwork for Grace to die in the finale. Manifest season 4, part 1 never refuted the notion that the divine consciousness used the Callings to engineer Grace’s death, and avoided providing an answer when the issue of Cal helping Angelina was raised by Olive.
Manifest Season 4 Admitted Cal’s Guilt In Grace’s Murder
While Manifest stopped short of confirming that the Callings planned for Angelina to murder Grace, the show did point out an unfortunate fact about her death. Olive blatantly accused Cal of causing the tragedy by giving Angelina the extra key to the house. Zeke also accused Ben of secretly blaming Cal for the incident. The excuse that Cal was only a child aside, the reality is that his decisions did pave the way for Grace’s murder to happen. This confrontation forced Cal to hold himself accountable for what happened that night.
Interestingly, Manifest refrained from explaining why Cal made those questionable choices. It hinted at a possible answer when Ben brought up Cal’s “connection” to Angelina. Cal denied sharing one with her, but Ben’s point is difficult to argue since Manifest never did offer a concrete answer for Cal’s interest in helping her. He was sure all along that Angelina was meant to be by their side, but all the crimes she’s committed in the show, not to mention killing Grace, proves that letting her get close to the Stone family was a mistake.
Did The Callings Want Grace To Die?
The unanswered questions surrounding Cal and Angelina keep the possibility of Grace’s death being part of a divine plan on the table for Manifest season 4, part 2. As dark as this revelation would be, it’s not impossible that Grace Stone’s death was deemed by the divine consciousness as an important and necessary turning point in the journeys of the Flight 828 passengers. It could be that Grace dying needed to happen in order for Cal and Ben to end up on their current paths.